George Hamilton Green

It seems like an intimidating requirement: "Must be able to play George Hamilton Green exercises five and ten without stopping in all major and natural minor keys." This is what would be expected of a music student in "Applied Percussion 119" class, for example, and it is just one reflection of the over-size image Green has in percussion music, specifically the history of the xylophone and vibraphone. The former instrument was one of a group of varied percussion that was added to the classical orchestra in the 19th century, also including tuned bells and glockenspiel. It would not be until Green's recordings in the 1920s that the full potential of these instruments would be realized. Keyboard percussionists ever since have been building on the Green groundwork which includes vintage recordings, a large repertoire of compositions, and several instructional texts that have remained essential. Some vibraphonists taught themselves to play simply by using Green's recordings, among them the great jazzman <a href="spotify:artist:6TDBjaKrCj3BvbxhiUSbog">Red Norvo</a>, after pilfering Green sides from his parents' record collection.

Green began playing xylophone at the age 11, having received plenty of encouragement from his bandleader father. Within two years the youngster was a soloist in his father's outfit, and upon turning 18 he headed into vaudeville where he made an international reputation for himself as a virtuoso, show-stopping xylophonist. His sideman activities included <a href="spotify:artist:7l80sO6HvwC6VvsHrwKhLS">the Happy Six</a>, a group directed by Harry Yerkes with New Orleans musicians Alcide "Yellow" Nuñez on clarinet and <a href="spotify:artist:3OwcIuFYbbxMZWt1VdeR62">Tom Brown</a> on trombone. Critics went wild with superlatives while the young Green soaked up ample opportunities to work as a soloist, composer, arranger, and sideman. With his brother Joe Green setting up yet another xylophone alongside his, outfits such as the Green Brothers' Xylophone Orchestra and the Green Brothers Novelty Band were born. The brothers also performed together in and as the Green Brothers Xylophone Orchestra, the Green Brothers Xylophone Band, and the Green Brothers Marimba Orchestra, not to mention the rarefied Green Brothers Mellorimba Orchestra. Between the two of them several trucks worth of xylophones, marimbas, vibraphone, harpaphones, bells, and chimes were being packed and unpacked at each engagement.

By the early '30s, George Hamilton Green had begun publishing a series of solo xylophone compositions including "The Ragtime Robin," "Cross Corners," "Charleston Capers," "Rainbow Ripples," and "Caprice Valsant." A series of six xylophone solos cut for Edison was the first shot in a discography that would eventually include more than 150 sides. Green eventually would leave Edison and move on to recording arrangements with Victor, Columbia, and quite a few other recording outfits. In 1946, Green retired from music, then turned around and sketched a successful career for himself as an artist, illustrator, and cartoonist. One of the best collections of his performances is the set entitled Masters of the Xylophone, released by the appropriately named Xylophonia label and also featuring xylophone gallivanting by brother Joe Green. The Canadian percussion ensemble Nexus released an album in which it exclusively Plays the Novelty Music of George Hamilton Green. ~ Eugene Chadbourne, Rovi